Ashley's loss
by Neophiles the Metal
Summary: Red has finally had enough of Ashley, so he leaves Ashley to herself with deadly consequences...T for Imminent Suicide Upset!


A little girl, dressed in bed robes that fluttered loosely in the wind, edged closer to the side of the cliff. Her name was Ashley, the only name that anyone ever called her by. Her face was red with tears that she had cried before reaching this point of her rapidly shortening life. She can easily remember how she got here...

"_That's it! Enough's enough!"  
"Where do you think you're going?!"  
"Away from you!"  
*Door Slams*  
"Fine, I don't need you!"_

But she did, he was the source of her power, her skills, her witchery. She needed him like a human needed a skeleton. Sure she had coped for the odd week, but it just didn't feel the same without Red. Now, she needed him more than ever...  
"Red..."  
Her bare foot hung in the air, the tears falling faster than before...  
"I'm sorry Red..."  
She can remember the time she had called for a pizza, when Mona had delivered it...

_The door opens...  
"Ashley? What's wrong...?"  
Ashley fell into her arms, hot tears running down her face...  
"Red...!"_

Mona wasn't as bad as Ashley thought; she had showed her the contract that had been torn to pieces by the devil. She had been there for Ashley, when she needed her the most. But this dilemma started at Warioware Incorporated...

"_Ashley, your game production's gone down!"  
"Sorry Sir, it's just...Red..."  
Wario glared at her...  
"Listen; until he comes back I'm not employing you..."  
"But he's never coming back!"  
"That's your problem, not mine. You treat him wrong and this is what'll happen..."  
"But..."  
"Leave..."_

She had walked home in the rain that night, the rain matting her hair together into an unruly tangle. She urged to call for Red, but who would hear her? She had arrived home, went upstairs and sat hugging her knees for a while. She then went downstairs, into the kitchen and towards the knife draw. She pulled out a carving knife, holding the blade on the underneath of her forearm. She slashed the skin; a trail of blood ran down her arm. She felt more relieved for a strange reason, so she did it again as she swapped arms, and again, and again, and again. She had suddenly thrown the knife down in pain, looking in terror at her bloody arms. Pain shot through her like a bolt of lightning, she let out a scream as the cuts seemed to attack her nerves. She lay on the kitchen floor, hunched into a tiny ball.

Outside, employees who worked at Warioware were getting worried. They hadn't seen Ashley for three days running, something was wrong. Even Wario sensed something different, so he called Kat and Ana to his office...  
"Girls, something's wrong about Ashley..."  
"Yeah, she hasn't been in for a while..."  
Wario shuffled in his seat, looking slightly uncomfortable...  
"Ah, I put her on lease until Red comes back..."  
"It'll be a while before that; I'll mail him to let him know what's happening..."  
"Tell him to hurry back, I'm starting to worry..."  
"About production, we know..."  
Wario glared at Kat, who glared back at the giant man on the other side of the desk...  
"Yeah that, and Ashley..."  
"Why boss?"  
"Let's just say that she looked upset, can anyone tell me what Ashley does when she's upset?"  
The twins looked at each other, before answering...  
"Hurt someone?"  
"What if there's no-one to hurt?"  
"Insult Red?"  
"And if he's not there?"  
Kat looked at Ana, whose face was frozen...  
"You don't think...?"  
Kat saw an unhappy, Red-less Ashley in her head...  
"Not that surely...?"  
They turned to Wario, who had got the same picture and was now trying to squeeze from behind his desk...  
"You two get a head start, I'll alert everyone else!"

The two kindergarten ninjas ran through the thick forest towards Ashley's silent adobe, the lights were off. The twins knew that the lights never went off, even in the day. If they were off, then the problem was as serious as ever. They both hammered on the door...  
"Ashley!"  
"Are you in there?!"  
They stepped back, looking at the door, before Ana spotted an open window...  
"Let's go!"  
The two of them scaled the mansion wall, dropping through the window. They stood in the silent house, scanning the hallway for clues...  
"Ashley, are you here?"  
"Helloooo?"  
_Oh thank goodness! Hehe...  
_Ana turned to find a Boo, it was looking incredibly worried...  
_She's inside the kitchen, you must hurry! Hehe..._  
Kat ran into the kitchen, finding Ashley in a tight ball. She felt her skin, shivering due to it almost being frozen. She noticed the smell of gas, turning to find the cooker open and steaming. She gulped...  
"Ana, I've found her!"  
_I tried to stop her, but she just turned on the gas and curled up! Hehe..._  
Ana suddenly remembered something, when she had found herself at Ashley's house before...

"_I wouldn't go near the fireplace around now..."  
"Why?"  
"I've rigged it to turn on at eight..."  
The fire roared into life at exactly eight-o-clock, amazing Ana to hyperactivity...  
"COOL!"  
"Meh..."_

Ana gulped, quickly checking her watch. It was one minute to eight; the fire could come on at any second...  
"Kat, get down!"  
"Aaah!"  
The fire turned on, the whole house erupted into a supernova of flames and debris. They all huddled together under a table while the Boo went for help. He found it in the form of Wario...  
_Help! It's the girls! Hurry! Hehe...  
_Wario growled as he pushed his bike further through the woods towards the blaze. Meanwhile, Kat and Ana were dodging falling debris while carrying a limp Ashley. Ana slipped as she choked on the smoke and accidentally moved Ashley's sleeve up...  
"Oh my...god..."  
Ashley's whole arm was covered in scars from what seemed to be depression, Kat found the same on the other arm, increasing worry between the two of them. They reached the door, a piece of large timber blocking their way...  
"I can't...keep my eyes open..."  
Ana collapsed, leaving Kat to struggle under Ashley's weight...  
"Kat, Ana!"  
A gruff voice came from outside, Kat began to choke as she shouted back...  
"Wario?!"  
"Hold on!"  
There was the sound of a few steps moving backwards, before they quickly pounded forwards. The door buckled inwards under Wario's strength, before he repeated moving back, running forward and ultimately smashing the doors off their hinges. He grabbed the three girls, before jumping through the fire. They rolled on the earth, gasping for oxygen. Wario picked himself up, wheezing and coughing as he signalled an ambulance that he had called earlier. Everyone seemed to have collected there, Mona, Jimmy, everyone who had ever worked at Warioware. Jimmy bustled around Wario, while Mona and Young Cricket helped Ashley and Ana. Kat stood close by her sister, who was breathing heavily as she lay in her bed...  
"We...are quite a team..."  
Kat nodded, before she jumped down as the ambulance sped away carrying the two girls.

It was tense for everyone as the door swung open to reveal Orbulon in full medical gear...  
"Orbulon, how is she?"  
"Who do you refer to?"  
Wario simply stood up, the angled moustache quivering with impatience...  
"Both of them..."  
Orbulon looked at the ceiling for a second before returning with...  
"Ana is fine, just a little oxygen starvation..."  
He turned and walked into the room, signalling them to follow. They found Ana sitting in her bed, reading a comic. Her eyes looked sleepy, as if she had only just woken up...  
"Ana!"  
Her sister charged over, leaping onto the bed and hugging her sister. Tears started to force out of her eyes as Ana hugged back, before they were swamped by everyone else. Meanwhile, in another bed, Ashley's hand twitched. Spitz had heard this, using his cat senses, and tugged on Mona's skirt. When she looked, he pointed...  
"Look at her, how can someone bare that attention?"  
Mona raised an eyebrow in confusion...  
"But there's no-one around her..."  
She caught Spitz's slitted eyes, which said to her...  
"Exactly..."  
Even though Mona was overjoyed that Ana was safe, she couldn't help feeling guilty about Ashley. Red didn't just carry the potions or wash the dishes; he held the little witch's _sanity_ together. They slowly walked over, sitting by Ashley. Mona sat on the chair while Spitz sat at the foot of the bed, carefully watching her features. Ashley's eye twitched, causing the devil red pupils to reveal themselves. It seemed to be the only colour visible on the entire body; the rest was as pale as her words...  
"Red..."  
Spitz crawled closer, now on her lap. The eyes flickered, slowly falling behind her eyelids. Suddenly the heart monitor skipped a beat, then two...  
_Beep....beep..  
beep....beep..  
beep.....beep.  
beep.....beep.  
beep..............  
beeeeeeeeep.  
_ The monitor stopped dead, the beep drew itself out to impossible levels. Mona watched as Ashley's body slowly faded out of existence...  
"NO!"  
Everyone turned just as Ashley disappeared, Mona ran over to the crowd...  
"She's gone!"  
"Where?!"  
Mona began to think furiously, where would _she _go...? It hit her like a steel wall...When Ashley was young Mona had taken her out one day to Tomorrow Hill, Ashley had pointed to a spot that seemed less beautiful than the rest of the coastline...  
_"Mona, what's that place called?"  
Mona looks across at the violent windswept cliff before turning back to the ten year old...  
"That's called Yesterday Bluff..."  
"Why don't people go there?"  
"They do, but they have to have an extremely good reason..."  
"Like...?"  
Mona sighed, turning to face the girl...  
"It's where people go when they're not happy with their life, where you give up your life for freedom from troubles..."  
She hugged her friend, before saying...  
"Ashley, promise me that you will never go to Yesterday Bluff..."  
Ashley let a little smile surface...  
"I promise..."_

She had broken that promise, but at least she wouldn't be around to know everyone's reaction. She didn't bother with wasteful words like "Goodbye cruel world!" or anything as pointless. She knew that the world hadn't been cruel, she had...  
She lifted her foot, closed her tearful eyes, and fell forwards...  
The air whistled past her face, through her hair...  
And she hoped...  
Hoped that none would remember her as a friend, or an efficient worker...  
But as the cruellest girl ever known...  
_"Ashley!"  
_Her foot seemed to catch something, leaving her dangling in the air. She looked up to find two familiar beady eyes staring back at her...  
"Red...?"  
She jolted downwards as the little devil lost his grip, until a voice came from above them...  
"Red, did you catch her?!"  
The undeniable visor of the ecstatic scientist Dr Crygor illuminated the pair; a long metal arm with a scoop on the end caught them as they dropped, lifting them onto the Bluff. They took a moment to look at each other, not quite believing what just happened. Red cautiously walked over to Ashley, who was sitting with her head low in thought...  
"Ash?"  
He moved closer, now within grabbing distance should Ashley attack him...  
"Ashley?"  
Her head slowly tilted upwards, her cheeks drenched with warm tears...  
"Red..."  
She slowly hugged him, his fur rubbing against her skin. He felt tears come to his eyes, and he hugged her back...

It was March 12th, a whole month after this story's events. Ashley had resumed her magical studies with Red at her side, helping her with potions and spells. She walked along the dusty corridors of her magically restored mansion, entering the library. She found a heavy book, wrapped in curses and other magical death traps. She opened it, revealing assorted photographs of her and various other people. Red was invisible in all the photos, mainly because he was the one who took them. She searched her pockets and found a picture that was only given to her yesterday by Mona. It showed a 3 year-old Ashley lying in a cot, sound asleep. Next to her was Red, who was also asleep, and they both shared a cover...  
_To think I only let him sleep at the foot of the bed now..._  
She stuck the picture in, resealed the book, silently slid it back into its slot and left it to collect dust once more...

**Big Aaaws all round!  
Pretty good huh?  
Neophiles doesn't own Warioware, Wario does...  
Wario: Bwahahahahaha! That's right!  
And the micro-games...  
Wario: Too true!  
And Mario's ass...  
Wario: Yeah! Wait...Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!**

**Neophiles the Metal, running for his life!  
Wario: Get back here!**


End file.
